One of the earliest apps promoted by Apple was Urbanspoon, the popular food guide. It was featured in a commercial Apple used to promote the iPhone 3G, way back in November of 2008. A year later Urbanspoon received an augmented reality feature to help you ‘scope’ out restaurants.
Fast forward to 2012, and the latest 2.0 update brings the biggest refresh yet, with a whole new revamp in its user interface alongside some new features.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Urbanspoon’s updated iPhone app adds these exciting new features:Filters You Can Personalize – View the types of restaurants you really want. Some possibilities include: hottest (according to bloggers and critics), most popular with diners, tonight’s availability, price, and your wishlist.
Editorial Lists – Choose from 22 years of James Beard Award winners, Eater’s hottest 38 restaurants in major cities, or Village Voice top critic picks in over a dozen markets. Add this to existing expert reviews from the Urbanspoon local food blogger network (the world’s largest).
Interactive Map – Restaurant lists now feature an map that allows you to narrow it down by cuisine, distance, name, popularity, and price.
Wishlist – Diners can use the wishlist feature to keep track of restaurants they want to try. Now the wishlist knows your location and will let you know if a wishlist restaurant is nearby.
New Look – A slick visual design features bold filters at the top of the home screen to make it easy to browse around or find exactly what you’re looking for, without losing the serendipitous discovery of Urbanspoon’s signature slot machine shake.
I took the Urbanspoon 2.0 update for a quick spin, and it looks fantastic. I like the new sidebar menu that slides back and forth, in what reminds me of the same feature from Sparrow or the Gmail iPhone app. The new user interface does make it easier to find what what you want to eat based on cuisine or price, plus the famous slot machine has remained. The new Wishlist feature will inform you of your desired restaurant when you happen to be nearby via location services. Pretty neat.
Urbanspoon is free–click here to download it from the App Store. What’s your favourite food app? For the latest Vancouver restaurant reviews, check out Eating in Vancouver.
